2024 World Endurance ChampionshipSports Cars 

Ugh, nasty crash for Earl Bamber, but glad the drivers are OK.

Horrible luck for WRT - no fault take outs on both their LMGT3 cars.
 
Jesus, that was a huge one. Glad Gelael and Bamber are okay, the moments before the Cadillac pit box got in touch via radio with Earl were quite tense.

The restart's going to be quite interesting - especially since tire changes will be allowed before the green light. The WEC Sprint Race advocates may get their wish after all. :lol:
 
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IforceV8
So this will end as a half points race huh?
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Yeg - only 4'12 of green flag racing, so not 75% needed for full points.

Disappointing end to what was an exciting race - can't help but feel a bit robbed, but there's not much else that could have been done.

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Wow - they've extended the race :eek: Didn't think they could do that, or would do that, but it's a welcome move!!

Some of the drivers ain't happy though...
 
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Jezza819
Iron Dames just can't catch a break. Slow pit stop, nearly get ran into by the Mustang in the pitlane, then Kobayashi does hit them at La Source.
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Looks like a P4 finish for them thanks to the air jack guy pulling out too soon.

edit. low fuel ,nevermind
edit edit. P4 because they screwed their team car too
 
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That was a great race with a lot of awesome recoveries (ferrari #50 & toyota with penalties/incidents getting back into top 10, iron lynx gt3 going from last to p3 etc), surprises (Alpine :D) and an awesome decision by the race director to continue the race after the red flag that lasted for over 1hour.
Jezza819
Iron Dames just can't catch a break. Slow pit stop, nearly get ran into by the Mustang in the pitlane, then Kobayashi does hit them at La Source.
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The first safety car destroyed the 40+ seconds lead by Bovy on p2 ._.
Frey & Gatting recovered a lot of the mishaps/accidents and especially Gatting put a lot of pressure on the Manthey porsches :D
 
As a Ferrarista, I can only comment on Giovinazzi's drive in one way...

giovinazzi_pantocratore.png


Antonio, who art in the #51 Ferrari, hallowed be thy name; thy WEC title come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily Ferrari win. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into another Porsche win; but deliver us from evil.

Amen.
 
IforceV8
sportscar365.com

Bamber Handed Le Mans Grid Penalty After Spa Crash – Sportscar365

Cadillac's Earl Bamber judged to be at fault by WEC stewards for crash that brought 6H Spa to a halt...
sportscar365.com sportscar365.com

And Ferrari protested the decision to continue the race and were rejected.
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Obviously, I think most can understand why the Ferrari team may feel that way, and the team lodging a protest against this decision is to be expected. But on the other hand, the rules clearly allow the stewards to extend the race time after a red flag...

Freitas was thus stuck with three options: end the race on the 6th hour, (which would've netted Ferrari a well-deserved 1-2, but would've been deeply disappointing for the spectating public), extend the race time just enough to allow the race to finish under green (which would've basically handed Porsche, Jota and Alpine a podium purely because they pitted at the right moment, as virtually nobody else in Hypercar had enough fuel for the formation procedures and a full racing lap), or extend the race time by the entire duration of the red flag (giving us an extra 1h 40 minutes of racing, which could've gone anybody's way). I think it's clear which option is better - although, yeah, in the end it was the 7h 40 minutes of Spa Francorchamps that Ferrari lost.

In the future the FIA may decide not to reward so much the good stroke of luck Porsche and Jota enjoyed and change the red flag or restart procedures. Until then, them's the breaks.
 
Poor Iron Dames... it should have been the day! I'm not sure what would have been the final result without all the miscues of the last 2 hrs. If not for the win they may have been close for P3

more on a general comment:
I'm wondering now how BOP for Lemans will be determined given the anomaly of this race generated by the red flag reset.
 
zjn
I'm wondering now how BOP for Lemans will be determined given the anomaly of this race generated by the red flag reset.
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I don't think the red flag should have affected the parameters used by the FIA to calculate the BOP much. They'll just toss that 1h40m of telemetry data from the cars were stopped on the grid in the bin, I guess? :lol:
 
ClydeYellow
I don't think the red flag should have affected the parameters used by the FIA to calculate the BOP much. They'll just toss that 1h40m of telemetry data from the cars were stopped on the grid in the bin, I guess? :lol:
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or maybe they just bin everything and use a dice 🤣 🤣 🤣
Let me refrase: IF balance of performance is somehow determined taking in consideration also the final classification, then the red flag determined quite a "random" shuffle, IF balance of performance only comes from telemetry analisys, then the red flag did not impact any of them
I don't know how they rule BOP
 
Telemetry analisis is the rule, not the result.

Speaking of visible datas, Kévin Estre on the #6 Porsche had the best average rythym (2'08"566), followed by Matthieu Vaxiviere on the #36 Alpine (2'08"753), Frédéric Makowiecki comes third on the #5 Porsche (2'08"808).

Note that the BoP is more kind with Porsche in IMSA compared to Cadillac, yet Cadillac performs better in the US.

I see Porsche, Cadillac, Ferrari and Toyota as the main contenders for victory at Le Mans this year. If the BoP was to remain the same of course.
 
zjn
Poor Iron Dames... it should have been the day! I'm not sure what would have been the final result without all the miscues of the last 2 hrs. If not for the win they may have been close for P3

more on a general comment:
I'm wondering now how BOP for Lemans will be determined given the anomaly of this race generated by the red flag reset.
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Was the Mustang ever penalized for that unsafe pit release on the Iron Dames? I don't think I ever heard it mentioned again.
 
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